Students graduate from drug resistance training

TWENTY STUDENTS at Thornhill Elementary School graduated from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) training, one of the first in a long time, April 13.

Auxiliary RCMP officer Kim McDougall taught the students, which is a first, as RCMP officers were the only ones to teach it up until recently.

The idea is that DARE can be taught more often now, says McDougall.

Parents came out to see their children and take photos of them receiving their certificate, t-shirt and other goodies, including a chocolate cupcake.

Several students were even handcuffed by Terrace RCMP Const. Angela Rabut, after students requested it while waiting for their certificates to be filled out.

A couple of students even figured out how to get out of the handcuffs, either by pulling them over their small hands or taking off their shoes and moving their arms from behind their back and under their feet so the handcuffs were in front of them and then trying to pull them off.

DARE prevention programs give schoolchildren the skills to recognize and resist social pressures to experiment with tobacco, alcohol, other drugs and violence.

DARE gives special attention to Grade 5 and 6 students to prepare them for higher grades where they are the most likely to encounter pressure to use drugs.